As part of a shared commitment to continuous improvement in project delivery, SEA and CBO, both APM Corporate Partners, recently collaborated on a Lunch and Learn session focused on project assurance for SEA’s project management community.

The session was delivered by Ed Mason Smith, CBO’s Director of Project Services and APM Channel Islands Lead, alongside George Price from SEA’s PMO team. Together they explored how assurance enhances delivery confidence, strengthens governance, and improves outcomes across complex project environments, supported by real world case studies showing where assurance would have been crucial.

This collaboration was enabled through the APM Corporate Partner network, which continues to foster cross organisational learning, professional connections, and capability development across the project community.

About CBO and SEA

CBO is the Channel Islands’ most trusted partner for project delivery, change and digital transformation. As an independent consultancy, CBO acts as a trusted advisor who understands organisational needs.

Focused on quality and long term value, CBO provides project services, business analysis and independent assurance, and has a strong track record of helping organisations deliver successful and sustainable outcomes. As an APM Corporate Partner, CBO actively supports the development of the project profession.

SEA is a highly regarded engineering and technology organisation, operating globally in the defence and maritime sectors. With more than sixty years of experience, SEA designs, manufactures, supports and sustains advanced naval systems, from fleet protection and integrated maritime systems to undersea surveillance solutions for navies and defence customers around the world.

Through its APM Corporate Partnership, SEA invests proactively in strengthening its project management community, enhancing governance and ensuring high quality outcomes for clients through disciplined project processes.

The APM Connection

The APM Corporate Partner network introduced SEA and CBO and provided the platform for two organisations with shared values to connect. The Lunch and Learn offered an opportunity for both organisations to share experience and reinforce best practice.

The session used APM principles as a common language, to explore how assurance supports confident and well governed project outcomes. By bringing Corporate Partners together, APM enabled open discussion, knowledge exchange and a stronger collective understanding of how assurance can be applied effectively across different project environments.

The Session

The Lunch and Learn brought together SEA’s project management community for a concise and practical exploration of assurance. Following an introduction on how project assurance is applied within SEA, Ed Mason-Smith provided an applied practitioner perspective, drawing on extensive assurance experience across a wide range of projects.

Key themes included:

• What project assurance means within the APM context
• How assurance complements and strengthens existing control and quality mechanisms
• The value of assurance (if well delivered)
• The importance of proportionate project assurance

Two contrasting case studies were shared to illustrate the impact of assurance:

• A Channel Islands-based transformational programme where early and objective assurance intervention would have prevented significant cost increases and delivery slippage
• A defence sector example where a lack of independent assurance on the programme management/delivery was identified as a root cause of programme uses and was required to challenge ‘optimism bias’

Conclusion

This Lunch and Learn session provided a great opportunity for CBO to share their assurance knowledge and demonstrate how these principles can be applied in different sectors. It delivered value for SEA by strengthening capability across its project community and building the shared understanding of how assurance supports confident and well governed delivery.

The collaboration also demonstrated the wider benefit of the APM Corporate Partner network, which continues to create opportunities for meaningful knowledge exchange between organisations.

Ed Mason-Smith said: “It was a pleasure to collaborate with the SEA team to tailor the session to their needs. Their commitment to strengthening project delivery meant we were able to create an engaging and meaningful discussion on how assurance supports confident and sustainable project outcomes.”

Steve Langbridge. Director of Programmes at SEA, said: “This session was a great opportunity for our project management community to reflect on how effective assurance strengthens governance and confidence in our delivery. Working with CBO through the APM Corporate Partner network enabled an open, practical discussion informed by real-world experience, and reinforced the importance of independent assurance for successful outcomes across our programmes.”